Natalie Fryar - The sparkling specialist

If you've had a glass of Jansz sparkling wine over the last few years you are across Natalie's work. While she makes other wines (under the Dalrymple label), it's sparkling wine that gets her out of bed each morning. You don't have to talk to her very long to notice she obsesses about sparkling in the same way the rest of us obsess about our fingers we have just jammed in a car door. Nothing else matters.

Talking about notice, that's one thing you can't help doing around Natalie. It would be impossible to imagine her being anywhere and not being noticed, even by people who have no idea who she is. Frankly there is an enormous amount of energy trapped in this young winemaker. 

There are drawbacks however from being a well known winemaker, particularly if you are a person who stands out. While not having actually been stalked Natalie did say that some people do "take too much interest in what I'm doing". Someone even tried to impersonate her. "They wrote asking for things because they were the winemaker for Jansz ... when they wrote the letters they spelt my name wrong!"

Sitting in Smolt in Salamanca on a rainy Hobart day the problem we had talking to Natalie was not so much what to talk about with someone you've just met but how to get through everything  and deal with all the interesting side issues that came up. It was like trying to herd cats.

In the end we just let the conversation run where it would. The result was a fascinating but fairly chaotic couple of hours. Given how busy Natalie is we were a little surprised that we were able to hold her interest for that long.

A world view

Having access to someone who has worked in several wine regions both here in Australia and overseas presents an invaluable opportunity to get a broader perspective on the Tasmanian wine industry.

Natalie's first exposure to Tasmania came while working at Great Western (Seppelts). She was astounded at the quality of the fruit. "It was unlike anything else we saw". So it was an easy decision to move here when  in 2000 she was asked to be the winemaker at Jansz.

"We're very fortunate ... the (Tasmanian) industry is part of the wine world that is only about quality ... it's only about those small number of really expressive wines". She believes that people don't realise how lucky they are to be in a state that doesn't lend itself to broad acre vineyards and has excellent sites that remain unplanted. 

She is also impressed with the number, and quality, of the people who are becoming involved in Tasmanian wine. Not only are there a number of exciting young winemakers but she believes Tasmania is unique in the number of wine labels that exist. Other regions with a comparable size grape crush tend to sell their crops to large wine companies rather than produce wine under their own label.

Sparkling sceptic

Natalie calls herself a sparkling specialist. "I'm mad for it" she said. The 'madness' started in 1993 when she rang 'the guys' at Seppelts and said she really wanted to learn how to make sparkling. It turns out her timing couldn't have been better, they had an opening. "I said right I'm in ... I can't remember if I had an interview or whether I just turned up". Time hasn't diminished her passion or intensity.

So things got a little tense when the touchy subject of 'sparkling sceptics' was raised. How tense? Imagine being a judge on a baby talent quest and telling the little darling's mother that her 'bundle of joy' was an ugly, talentless drone that will never amount to anything. That tense.

"Sceptic?" Natalie said " it does exist you know ... you can buy it!". Explaining that the term doesn't refer to a doubt that sparkling exists but rather to the belief that it is over rated and the fact that the bubbles get in the way of the flavour helped to diffuse the tension a little.

"All you need is one positive experience" she argues. "The bubbles are fun ... it's like being a child again". So what would Natalie say to a sparkling sceptic?. "Give me 20 minutes and I will convert you" she declared. In order to achieve this she would start them in the vineyard tasting grapes, follow this with base wine and then it would be on to the final product.

So why did Natalie specialise in sparkling? Well, aside from the complex and delicate taste there's the fact that sparkling is an extremely difficult wine to make well. It offers the self confessed wine geek both a technical challenge and a nagging feeling that it can always be improved.

Which leads on to the next obvious question. Has Natalie made the 'perfect' sparkling wine?

She nominated the 2005 Jansz as being 'all that I could ever want' but argues that even this was not the perfect wine. "The good thing about winemaking is that there is no end to your career ... it's not like being a sportsman". Natalie thinks she is still only scratching the surface so the 'perfect' wine is still to be made.

Talking to Natalie gave us a real insight into the world of a first class winemaker. The highs "you do get great tables in restaurants" and the lows "tons of grapes exploding on to the floor because of a cellar screw up". Listening to her you develop a real respect for the time, effort and sheer perseverence that is required to succeed in this business. We liked her.

What do you think? Send us a comment